Finally warm

It feels like we've finally made it to the tropics. The last couple days have been in the 70s and today topped out at 80. Nice sunshine as well. The wool socks are put away for good.

We're at a marina in Melbourne, Florida tonight after making great time the past two days. Mile 900 of the ICW flew by this afternoon, and the Boca Raton Resort and Marina (our first scheduled stop) is at mile 1048. We're in great shape to make it to our reserved slip by Thursday morning to have a whole day to chill and get ourselves together for the wedding weekend.

The scenery continues to be delightful, ranging from large houses with docks jutting into the ICW and huge high rises to serene beaches with palm trees.

Daytona Beach Shores

Dolphins continue to swim by on a regular basis, although they've never been as friendly as the first North Carolina dolphins we encountered :-) Now we're on the lookout for manatees, as we frequently see signs warning boats to slow down on their account.

Some side notes. We tied off to a mooring ball for the first time the other night at St. Augustine. Basically, it's like someone placed a permanent anchor for you, and all you have to do is grab the floating line with your boat hook and tie your boat off to it. The only trick is hooking the line from a moving boat. We were successful on the first try!

On my way back from my run today over the Melbourne bridge to take a look at the open atlantic, I stopped into a dive shop, Hatts Diving Headquaters. The guy behind the counter was super helpful, stayed open late for me, and didn't mind that I was a sweaty mess. I came home with a Hawaiian sling, a.k.a pole spear, used for hunting lobsters and smallish fish while snorkeling. He gave me tips on how to use it and a spare "paralyzer" tip. Looks like lobster will be on the menu once we get to the Bahamas!

One final note. After a few weeks of going native, I decided to shave. For a brief moment, I sported a very suspect-looking mustache. I thought you might get a kick out of it.